THE ARTICLE

Reggae legend and follower of the Rastafarian religion Bob Marley would have been 60 years old today. He died of cancer in 1981, aged 36. Today in Ethiopia there will be a birthday concert to honor him. Thousands of fellow Rastafarians and reggae lovers from around the world will travel to Addis Ababa, the capital city, to celebrate in words and music one of the most important contributors to modern music. Bob Marley’s birthday is usually celebrated in his native Jamaica, the home of reggae music, however this time it is in Ethiopia, which is where the spiritual roots of Rastafarianism are. Nearly twenty-five years after his death Marley’s music is still heard wherever you go in the world. Classic songs like No Woman, No Cry, Exodus and One Love will live forever. Bob Marley’s widow, Rita, said “It has always been the wish of Bob Marley to return to Ethiopia and become a Rastafarian... and with the African Union, Addis Ababa is the capital of Africa and therefore a very symbolic place.” It is Rita’s hope that Bob Marley may one day be reburied in Ethiopia.

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2.MARLEY BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with Bob Marley / Reggae. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3.MARLEY SONGS: Look at the titles of the following Bob Marley songs. Talk to your partner about what you think the songs are about. Change partners and share opinions. Look the song lyrics up on the Internet for homework to see if you were right:

- Stop That Train
- I Shot The Sheriff
- Rebel Music
- Rat Race
- Exodus
- Three Little Birds
- Africa Unite
- So Much Trouble In The World
- No Woman, No Cry

4.MY 60th BIRTHDAY: Talk about what you would like to do on your 60th birthday. Is it a special birthday in your culture? Do you get to retire? Do you have a big party?

PRE-READING IDEAS

1.WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘birthday’, and 'concert’.

2.TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:
(a) Bob Marley was (is) a Reggae legend. T / F
(b) He died of cancer in 1981, aged 56. T / F
(c) Today in Jamaica there will be a birthday concert to honor him. T / F
(d) He was one of the most important contributors to modern music. T / F
(e) Jamaica is the home of reggae music. T / F
(f) Bob Marley’s music isn’t heard so much now, twenty-five years after his death. T / F
(g) Bob Marley’s songs will live forever. T / F
(h) It is his wife’s hope that Bob Marley may one day be reburied in Ethiopia. T / F

3.DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

(a) legend (n)
(i) a person that will be remembered forever for doing something (usually) great
(ii) your foot

(b) religion (n)
(i) the set of beliefs you follow by praying, reading a holy book and going to a church, mosque, temple, synagogue etc
(ii) the area of a country in which you were born

(c) cancer (n)
(i) an electrical device for opening tins of vegetables, fruit, soup, rice pudding etc
(ii) a terrible illness that destroys parts of your body, and often leads to death

(d) honor (v)
(i) to practice something over end over again until it is perfect
(ii) to do something special to show how much you love(d) and respect(ed) another person

(e) celebrate (v)
(i) to have a party and do lots of fun things for a special reason such as a birthday, national day, passing an exam …
(ii) the part of the brain that is connected to your spine

(f) spiritual (adj)
(i) something that is connected with your soul and very deepest beliefs about life and the universe
(ii) a geometric shape

(g) roots (n)
(i) your family history that shows where you came from originally
(ii) a nickname given to an Australian animal that can jump long distances

(h) classic (adj)
(i) something that will be great, wonderful, and liked forever
(ii) when you don’t attend school because you really hate it.

(i) symbolic (adj)
(i) when one thing is used to represent another
(ii) the crashing sound made by the cymbal player in an orchestra

(j) reburied (v)
(i) to be placed in a different grave / tomb after first being put in an initial one
(ii) to not do what your family, school or society tell you

4.SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)

legend

enthusiasts

(b)

follower

desire

(c)

honor

promoter

(d)

lovers

believer

(e)

celebrate

timeless

(f)

contributor

commemorate

(g)

spiritual

great

(h)

classic

representative

(i)

wish

pay respect to

(j)

symbolic

religious

5.PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)

Reggae

contributors

(b)

Bob Marley would have been

roots

(c)

a birthday concert to

60 years old today

(d)

one of the most important

place

(e)

in his native

forever

(f)

spiritual

legend

(g)

classic

Jamaica

(h)

will live

in Ethiopia

(i)

a very symbolic

honor him

(j)

may one day be reburied

songs

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1.GAP-FILL: Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Bob Marley’s 60th birthday concert

Reggae legend and __________ of the Rastafarian religion Bob Marley __________ have been 60 years old today. He died of cancer in 1981, aged 36. Today in Ethiopia there will be a birthday concert to honor him. Thousands of __________ Rastafarians and reggae lovers from around the world will travel to Addis Ababa, the capital city, to celebrate in __________ and music one of the most important contributors to modern music. Bob Marley’s birthday is usually celebrated in his __________ Jamaica, the home of reggae music, however this time it is in Ethiopia, which is where the spiritual roots of Rastafarianism are. Nearly twenty five years after his death Marley’s music is still heard wherever you go in the world. __________ songs like No Woman, No Cry, Exodus and One Love will live forever. Bob Marley’s widow, Rita, said “It has always been the __________ of Bob Marley to return to Ethiopia and become a Rastafarian... and with the African Union, Addis Ababa is the capital of Africa and therefore a very symbolic place.” It is Rita’s hope that Bob Marley may one __________ be reburied in Ethiopia.

fellow classic follower native would day words wish

2. TRUE/FALSE: Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS: Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6.VOCABULARY: Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1.GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2.QUESTIONS: Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4.STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5.‘BIRTHDAY’/ ‘CONCERT’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6.DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions:
(a) Do you like reggae?
(b) When did you first hear reggae?
(c) Have you heard of Bob Marley?
(d) What Bob Marley songs do you know / like?
(e) What other reggae songs / artists do you know / like?
(f) What do you know of Rastafarianism?
(g) Would you like to have your hair in dreadlocks?
(h) Rastafarians believe marijuana was given to us by God to be enjoyed. What do you think?
(i) What do you know about Ethiopia?
(j) Would you like to go to Bob Marley’s country of birth - Jamaica?
(k) What would you like to do on your 60th birthday?
(l) How would you like people to honor you?
(m) Teacher / Student additional questions

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the Bob Marley. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. BOB MARLEY: Create a poster on the life of Bob Marley.

4. BOB MARLEY SONG: Choose a Bob Marley song. Find the lyrics on the Internet. Write your explanation of what they mean.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a) Bob Marley was (is) a Reggae legend. T
(b) He died of cancer in 1981, aged 56. F
(c) Today in Jamaica there will be a birthday concert to honor him. F
(d) He was one of the most important contributors to modern music. T
(e) Jamaica is the home of reggae music. T
(f) Bob Marley’s music isn’t heard so much now, twenty-five years after his death. T
(g) Bob Marley’s songs will live forever. T
(h) It is his wife’s hope that Bob Marley may one day be reburied in Ethiopia. T

DEFINITIONS:

(a) legend (n)
(i) a person that will be remembered forever for doing something (usually) great

(b) religion (n)
(i) the set of beliefs you follow by praying, reading a holy book and going to a church, mosque, temple, synagogue etc

(c) cancer (n)
(ii) a terrible illness that destroys parts of your body, and often leads to death

(d) honor (v)
(ii) to do something special to show how much you love(d) and respect(ed) another person

(e) celebrate (v)
(i) to have a party and do lots of fun things for a special reason such as a birthday, national day, passing an exam …

(f) spiritual (adj)
(i) something that is connected with your soul and very deepest beliefs about life and the universe

(g) roots (n)
(i) your family history that shows where you came from originally

(h) classic (adj)
(i) something that will be great, wonderful, and liked forever

(i) symbolic (adj)
(i) when one thing is used to represent another

(j) reburied (v)
(i) to be placed in a different grave / tomb after first being put in an initial one

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)

legend

great

(b)

follower

believer

(c)

honor

pay respect to

(d)

lovers

enthusiasts

(e)

celebrate

commemorate

(f)

contributor

promoter

(g)

spiritual

religious

(h)

classic

timeless

(i)

wish

desire

(j)

symbolic

representative

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)

Reggae

legend

(b)

Bob Marley would have been

60 years old today

(c)

a birthday concert to

honor him

(d)

one of the most important

contributors

(e)

in his native

Jamaica

(f)

spiritual

roots

(g)

classic

songs

(h)

will live

forever

(i)

a very symbolic

place

(j)

may one day be reburied

in Ethiopia

GAP FILL:

Bob Marley’s 60th birthday concert

Reggae legend and follower of the Rastafarian religion Bob Marley would have been 60 years old today. He died of cancer in 1981, aged 36. Today in Ethiopia there will be a birthday concert to honor him. Thousands of fellow Rastafarians and reggae lovers from around the world will travel to Addis Ababa, the capital city, to celebrate in words and music one of the most important contributors to modern music. Bob Marley’s birthday is usually celebrated in his native Jamaica, the home of reggae music, however this time it is in Ethiopia, which is where the spiritual roots of Rastafarianism are. Nearly twenty-five years after his death Marley’s music is still heard wherever you go in the world. Classic songs like No Woman, No Cry, Exodus and One Love will live forever. Bob Marley’s widow, Rita, said “It has always been the wish of Bob Marley to return to Ethiopia and become a Rastafarian... and with the African Union, Addis Ababa is the capital of Africa and therefore a very symbolic place.” It is Rita’s hope that Bob Marley may one day be reburied in Ethiopia.